Held them to about halfway. Got disconcerted due to the fact that they were still there and they finished about half a length up. 

The race was delayed for a while, as Bow's gate fell off on the way up to the start and we lost some important parts in the Cam. After stealing a gate from the 5th VIII we pulled away from Sidney very slowly off the start. By the railway bridge, there was a judicious amount of clear water between the boats - a good thing since our racing line strayed the wrong side of centre - and then we started to fall apart. However we managed to get it back together and won fairly comfortably in the end. 

Here it was - the crunch test of the lower boats crew selection policy. After the 5th VIII had obtained a gate from the 1st Women's VIII we were ready to start. Despite their having a ringer in the all-important No.5 seat who, in all honesty, rowed like a compete Lemon during the race, we held them off their carefully planned 'Blitz' start. After ten or so strokes of this, they got a bit tired (esp. the fat bloke at 5) and we rowed steadily away to win. (Matt)